Pipe tobacco processes

[chillardbee]

I came across this link while search on various ways of making Pipes tobacco. Pretty good read.

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/oh-the-things-well-do-for-pipe-tobacco/

 

[deluxestogie]

Excellent article. It does clarify the difference between stoving and steaming.

The method described for spuncut and rollcut seems a little iffy. I have seen videos from several manufacturers showing that, rather than "putting cut tobacco in a tube and putting it under direct pressure," stemmed whole leaf is formed into the rollcake using a Lieberman device to roll it. The "birdseyes" seen in some blends are formed by including an unstemmed leaf in the center, or in specified locations surrounding the center.

Bob

 

[TheOtherOne]

Cool pictures for my first smoke of the day.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[istanbulin]

It also clarifies the "ketchup" smell on some pipe blends, vinegar as a mold surpressant.

Anitfungals- Antifungals can be chemical compounds designed for the purpose, or can be something as simple as vinegar. In any case, their reason for being in your tobacco is to keep mold from forming in the package.

He called this agents "antifungals", it sounded a little weird to me, like a medicine. I don't know how they call it in tobacco business terminology but even "fungucide" doesn't fit well. May be "mold surpressant" is better.

 

[chillardbee]

Mold is a fungus type and thats why they would use them. I have seen first hand here why adding a anti fungal agent is important if your tobacco is overly moist. I used the potassium sorbate for an mold inhibator at the dosage that JTI uses which worked out to 2 gm to the kg which was included in my casing. they did not mold but my bright leaf mix had none and it was a solid block of mold in 2 weeks, Oh the humanity I was fond of that blend.

 

[chillardbee]

And as always, we all know how fast an untreated cavendish blend will mold. I wonder if what happens with perique processing and why it doesn't mold...is it the pressure?

 

[istanbulin]

Mold is a fungus type and thats why they would use them. ...

Thank you very much for clarifying this.

 

[DGBAMA]

And as always, we all know how fast an untreated cavendish blend will mold. I wonder if what happens with perique processing and why it doesn't mold...is it the pressure?

mold needs AIR to grow. When pressed, perique is basically immersed in its own juices/liquid, so no air is present.

 

[deluxestogie]

Cavendish tends to hold onto moisture. If it's adequately dried, it, like all other tobacco, will not mold.

From a commercial standpoint, consumers have come to expect tobacco to be somewhat squishy--a state that requires enough humidity for it to mold. Hence the use of antifungals in commercial tobacco. (I recall Bull Durham tobacco coming in a little canvas bag--dry as a bone.)

If you make up something that needs to be quite moist, such as the various forms of smokeless tobacco, then it will need something to inhibit mold growth, or it will require freezing for storage. Pipe tobacco blends, especially those steeped in food flavorings, need to be stored just slightly more pliable than the crumbling point.

Bob

 

[DonH]

mold needs AIR to grow. When pressed, perique is basically immersed in its own juices/liquid, so no air is present.

I'm wondering if the acidity from the Perique fermentation inhibits mold.

 

[deluxestogie]

Perique is alkaline, and the juices are concentrated, serving as an osmotic antimicrobial.

Bob

 

[CharmCityPipeClub]

How do you use vinegar as a mold inhibitor? What portions, and types do you use? What's the process?

 

[deluxestogie]

You'd think that question would be easy to answer. (Welcome to the forum, by the way.) I've used diluted vinegar (50:50) to mist whole leaf that has begun to show mold on the stem. Just a light misting, followed by drying, kills the mold. I've never used it on a finished pipe blend, since mine--mostly English/Balkan styles--are nearly dry (low case) after they are made up.

With the misted whole leaf, the horrid vinegar aroma dissipates after a few hours to a day. For a pipe blend, the required amount of (distilled) vinegar would depend on how moist you like to store your blend, as well as how much humectant is added. I would suggest experimenting with small batches.

Spread the blend on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap, then mist it lightly with 50:50 distilled vinegar, to provide a slight dampness. Allow this to dry down to your preferred storage condition. (If you are like the McClelland folks, you'll add too much vinegar, then have a blend that tastes like ketchup--until it has aired out for a while.)

Practically all commercially available pipe tobacco blends (and blending components from those same sources) use some quantity of propylene glycol and or glycerine. Both are antifungal and also serve as humectants.

When you begin with purchased whole leaf, or with leaf that you have grown, then the need for an anti-fungal additive is entirely dependent on how wet you chose to store your finished tobacco.

Bob

 

[ProfessorPangloss]

(If you are like the McClelland folks, you'll add too much vinegar, then have a blend that tastes like ketchup--until it has aired out for a while.)

Bob

Do you regularly treat with vinegar, or only at signs of trouble? I ask because I've lost a bunch of cavendish to mold in the past (At ChinaVoodoo's suggestion, I've changed my drying process and I think I'm ok now). So I'm wondering if it's a good idea to just treat your blends as a matter of procedure, apropos of your above diagnosis of the McClelland ketchup smell.

 

[ArizonaDave]

I'm feeling pretty blessed in the desert....I always have to add water. No mold.

 

[deluxestogie]

The desert sounds like the best approach.

I don't regularly treat anything.

There are a couple of aspects of black Cavendish that encourage a mold problem. The first is our experience with commercial Cavendish tobacco. It just seems like it can be left slightly squishy. As a result, it's tempting to not dry it sufficiently for storage. The second is that the Cavendish (cooking) process damages cell wall integrity, increasing the hygroscopic character of the lamina, and as a result, it will more easily draw and hold onto moisture from humid days.

If you don't own a desert, Cavendish can be dried to a state that is barely flexible (low case), but then enclosed in a vapor-proof container so that it will not backslide by absorbing moisture again.

The only, only, only tobacco that I've had mold as a batch in a bag is some shredded, homemade black Cavendish--and only once.

If you pressure cook it in a Mason jar, and never break the seal on your lid, then it's not going to mold, no matter how damp it is. Once you peek, you've got to dry it down or resort to chemical anti-fungals.

One might wonder if Perique, with its damaged cell walls, has a similar predilection to molding. It doesn't seem to. I believe this is because of its more alkaline pH, and the high osmolarity of the goop that leaked out of the lamina. But I now shred and dry it to low case, as soon as it comes out of the press, and store it in a vapor-proof pouch. (I used to store it as a wet slab in double Ziplock bags inside the fridge. Wet Perique stores that way for years, with only scant signs of yeast growth.)

Bob

 

[CharmCityPipeClub]

Thank you so much, Bob! I have a large jar of shredded and blended VA/Per that I'm going to treat with the 50/50 solution. You're spot on about how we look at commercial tobacco as being the standard. When I transfer from tin to mason jar the tobacco is always very pliable and I never encounter an issue so I'm just used to that. I'm not sure I'm ready to start adding propylene glycol to my blends but it's good to know that it will do both jobs.

 

[CharmCityPipeClub]

If you pressure cook it in a Mason jar, and never break the seal on your lid, then it's not going to mold, no matter how damp it is.

What's your whole leaf to mason jar process? Do you boil your jars? Do you only jar low case leaf? Do you shred before to jar?

Best,
Alex

 

[deluxestogie]

What's your whole leaf to mason jar process? Do you boil your jars? Do you only jar low case leaf? Do you shred before to jar?

Best,
Alex

I have not yet used that method. Others on the forum have done so successfully. It is discussed in other threads on the subject of Cavendish.

Bob

 

[Smokin Harley]

What's your whole leaf to mason jar process? Do you boil your jars? Do you only jar low case leaf? Do you shred before to jar?

Best,
Alex

I recently did this -first was a stove top steaming . It took all day or a couple days of steaming , adding water every few hours and steaming up the house with sporadic results.

Second was a pressure cooker method which is a quicker version but still had to add water ...everything was going fine until the safety plug on my old Presto popped and that put an end to the pressure cooker idea.

So then Third- I already had built a kiln when I grew my first season .Through trial and error I found I could maintain a constant suitable temperature using a rheostat regulated heat unit (crock pot or electric roaster) also controlled by a digital control unit (ebay $15) . I don't fill either of those with water directly ,once you have to shut the heat off , wait for it to cool in order to avoid temperature shock of the ceramic pot , refill the water and reheat it all to temp, a lot of time is lost . So, what I did was fill the electrically controlled vessel with common cheap sand . I put a layer of sand in the bottom , place another temperature stable vessel(stainless steel) on top of that and fill the outer void with sand . Sand acts like an insulating jacket and stabilizes the temperature from spikes and dips. It also acts as a heat sink so that once you open the kiln to add water to the metal vessel, it doesn't take nearly as long to regain heat to a working temperature.

Fourth- I'm still fiddling with this idea. I have the heat unit full of sand and working at a constant 118-121 depending on the outside ambient temp in the garage . Now , I pack enough leaf into a canning jar to full with enough moisture to be damp but not dripping. Seal it up ,set it on a shelf within the kiln and let it go for as long as I need without opening up the kiln. No heat loss because I don't open the kiln to add anything, so the roaster idles right along . The moisture is kept within the sealed jar. I did this with a few jars worth of cavendish using various pure leaf varieties. Turned out it didn't take an entire month and smoked very good .